


as our hearts shake off sparks

by oorrrt



Series: alive, with closed eyes [2]
Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Road Trips, also technically, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 11:36:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20425331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oorrrt/pseuds/oorrrt
Summary: Oneus has a rare day off.





	as our hearts shake off sparks

**Author's Note:**

> title from sparks – the family crest (a masterpiece pls listen to it. also all their other music)
> 
> this fic takes place after my other xiwoong canon fic but u don’t need to have read it to understand this one! but if u do, or already have, I love u extra!
> 
> warning: unsexy LONG end notes (but if u like xiwoong worth the read)

Dongju doesn’t want to be presumptuous, but Hwanwoong seems happier.

The only reason he settles on this is because he spends so much time sneaking glances that he’s memorized a map of Hwanwoong’s face (which he’ll never admit). It’s not like him to be subtle, but there’s something precious in catching someone unaware, like a snapshot, his heart the camera.

Hwanwoong probably notices anyways. There’s no other explanation for how beautiful he is, all the time. (Dongju will also never admit this, at least not out loud.)

They’re all back in Korea, unpacking, their time in Japan having come to a climactic close. Dongju’s never felt so whole before, and he’s ready to take all the love he’s been given and put it into preparing for their next album. Looking around their tiny room, and his tiny bed, he feels a twinge of longing for the hotel room. For having Hwanwoong to himself.

“If we make it big, and we can move out of this dorm, would you all get your own apartments? Alone?” he finds himself asking as they all settle in for the night.

“Yes,” Geonhak says immediately.

“You mean _when_ we make it big,” Keonhee says at the same time.

“I’ll live with anyone but Geonhak,” Seoho responds a second later. Geonhak throws a pillow at him.

“I want to live with Sunny,” Youngjo adds.

Dongju hums and shifts around in his bed. It’s the first time in a while that he’s not sleeping with Hwanwoong, and he already misses it, but he wants to give him space.

“What about you, Dongju?” Youngjo asks.

“I don’t know,” he says truthfully. “I feel like I’d get lonely. Maybe I could move in with Dongmyeong.”

“Or Woongie,” says Keonhee. “Is he here? Is he already asleep?”

Dongju feels his cheeks warm. He’s not sure how much the other members know of him and Hwanwoong’s relationship of sorts, but they probably suspect something. Part of him hopes they assume it’s just him dealing with his loneliness by clinging. The other part of him wants to take his pillow, smack everyone on the face until he has everyone’s undivided attention, and tell them that he loves Hwanwoong and Hwanwoong loves him back.

Wait. Does Hwanwoong love him back? Has he ever said?

Dongju leans over the bed and waits for someone to stop shuffling around so he can check Hwanwoong’s breathing. After all the time they’ve spent together, Dongju considers himself an expert on discerning Hwanwoong’s sleep breathing from his awake breathing, and his pretending to sleep breathing.

He’s definitely pretending to be asleep. Or trying to fall asleep, he supposes.

“Hwanwoong-hyung,” Dongju whispers. “Do you love me?”

“What the fuck,” Seoho says. Oh. Dongju forgot everyone else was in the room, mostly awake. After a mortifying moment of silence, he figures he’s whiny enough for this to raise no concern.

“Woongie-hyung!” he whispers again, but loudly. “Woongie-hyung! Do you love me!”

“Shut up,” Hwanwoong’s sleepy voice finally responds.

Dongju pouts. He feels the bed beneath him move, as Hwanwoong shifts. And then his face is in his face. He shrieks.

“Dongju, please, go to sleep,” Youngjo pleads.

It’s dark, but Dongju can make out the lines of Hwanwoong’s features, now stifling a laugh. Dongju crosses off _spy, secret agent, _and _wild animal photographer_ as possible future careers for himself, seeing as he couldn’t even tell that the person right under him had gotten out of bed–

Hwanwoong places a silent kiss on Dongju’s pout. His lips are gone in seconds, replaced by a finger, warning Dongju to be quiet. Dongju wants to shriek again. Or kiss him back, more loudly, wetly. He settles for licking Hwanwoong’s finger.

Hwanwoong yanks his hand back, accidentally smacking the bedframe. They both peer around the room, wondering whether anyone is paying attention. When they see no movement, Hwanwoong places another kiss onto Dongju’s forehead, then retreats back into his own bed.

Just as he’s about to fall asleep, someone starts thrashing around.

“I want my pillow back,” Geonhak whines.

***

Sunlight streams through the window and Dongju wakes slowly. It’s the first time in a long time he’s slept in, and he feels the lightness of good sleep and a day off.

He’s surprised to see that everyone’s already gone. Even Hwanwoong’s blankets are cold, long-empty. He takes time to do some deep breathing exercises and stretch out his limbs, then fixes everyone’s bed. It’s around noon when he makes his way out into the quiet living room.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Hwanwoong says from the couch, hair (and back of couch) damp from a shower.

“Don’t get the couch wet,” Dongju nags.

“Not even a ‘good morning?’ Or a good morning kiss?”

Dongju sticks his tongue out at the older and gets a glass of water. “Where is everyone?”

“I think Youngjo-hyung and Seoho-hyung went to some underground music festival or concert or something, and Geonhak-hyung and Keonhee are visiting family,” Hwanwoong lists, counting off his fingers.

“Everyone’s so busy.”

Hwanwoong hums in assent. “But honestly I thought you’d be out the door first.”

Dongju plops himself down on the couch. “I didn’t even think to make plans.”

“That’s not like you.”

Dongju heaves a long-suffering sigh. “I’ve been wasting my whole brain thinking about you,” he admits.

Hwanwoong grins. “That’s awfully romantic, isn’t it?”

“_You’re _awfully romantic.” Dongju coughs. “Wait. No.”

“No take-backs!” Hwanwoong kisses him on the cheek. (Dongju definitely doesn’t blush.) “Anyways, go put on some cute clothes. Let’s go somewhere.”

“Where?”

“Wherever! Manager-hyung told me I could take you out with the car today as long as we’re back by sunset.”

“Didn’t you say you thought I’d be gone somewhere by now?”

Hwanwoong smiles Dongju’s favorite smile, the small one that makes his eyes shimmer. “I asked him just in case.”

“That’s _awfully romantic,” _Dongju teases.

“I know I am,” Hwanwoong says, confidently, seriously.

They’re out the door quickly, knowing they’re on a time limit. From the passenger seat, Dongju brushes back Hwanwoong’s bangs. (Looking at his eyes is even nicer when Dongju’s the one that did his makeup. He likes seeing his touch visible on his Hwanwoong’s face.)

They listen to Onewe’s new release on their drive to the Han River, Hwanwoong making too many technical comments on the song that Dongju’s pretty sure are all bullshit, but he doesn’t know enough about music theory or band instruments to argue.

When they arrive, both of them make a beeline for food, grabbing some marinated chicken and fried mini potatoes. Dongju picks out a particularly buttery one and stuffs it into Hwanwoong’s mouth.

“Remember when we came here with Youngjo-hyung?” he asks.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Hwanwoong mumbles around his mouthful of food.

Dongju squints out into the water. “That was after the first time you slept in my bed.”

Hwanwoong raises his eyebrows at him. “You remember that? You think too much.”

Dongju eats a piece of chicken off of Hwanwoong’s toothpick. He rolls it around his tongue, savors the spicy taste. “You think a lot too. I just feel a lot.” He eats another piece of chicken and stuffs another potato into Hwanwoong’s mouth.

They walk along the river in a peaceful silence. The heat has finally died down, and the dust isn’t bad, so there are lots of people outside enjoying the river. Dongju’s grateful for the weather, but he wants to hold Hwanwoong’s hand. He settles for walking a little too close, arms swinging in sync, letting their fingers brush together as if on accident.

Hwanwoong probably notices. Whatever.

Dongju’s so focused on their hands knocking gently together, and trying not to overdo it, that he misses Hwanwoong suddenly stop. The older reaches out and grabs Dongju’s hand.

“Let’s get a boat,” Hwanwoong says, flapping his arms around.

“You’re acting like a tourist,” Dongju says.

“Swan boat!”

“Swan boat? Isn’t that for couples?”

Hwanwoong smirks at him. “Haven’t we already gone over this? I’m _awfully romantic.”_

They get the boat. Somehow, Hwanwoong manages to get both their socks wet. So then, they have to dry the socks. And naturally, Dongju steals Hwanwoong’s socks, so Hwanwoong tackles him and steals _his_ socks, so they chase each other around one of the more deserted parks. And after that, they’re both hungry again from the running, so they make their way to a nearby convenience store to make ramen, and then go eat it on a park bench, sitting a little too close together.

“I wish days like this lasted forever,” Dongju says, shoulder warm from where it meets Hwanwoong’s.

“Don’t be like that yet, we have so much more time left.”

Dongju checks his phone. “We need to be back in less than three hours.”

Hwanwoong looks at him, eyes gleaming. “Do we?”

“Oh. You never intended to be back by sunset.”

“No, I did at first. But if we were just going to come here, we could’ve taken the bus. We have a car, and tomorrow off, this might be the last time we get to do this before we get really busy.”

“It might be the last time because they’ll never let us out again,” Dongju points out.

“What are they going to do, kick us out of the group?”

“Maybe!”

Hwanwoong’s face is serious, but his eyes are warm as he gives Dongju a look. “I’m truly not that impulsive of a person. But around you I seem absolutely wild. Just tell me, Dongju, where do you want to go?”

“The beach.” Maybe Hwanwoong’s slight impulsiveness is rubbing off on him.

Hands on the steering wheel, Hwanwoong seems to finally come to his senses. “Incheon’s closest, right? I mean, I guess if we’re doing this we might as well go somewhere further, but if something happens, we shouldn’t be too far–”

“Incheon’s fine,” Dongju laughs.

Hwanwoong deflates. “Any music requests?”

Dongju shakes his head no. He rolls down the window as they start moving, letting the wind ruffle his hair. Hwanwoong turns on their first album.

“No,” Dongju says. “I don’t want to listen to our own music.”

“Fine.” After a bit of fiddling, the twangy beginning of _Old Town Road_ fills the car.

“_Hyung,”_ Dongju complains, “this isn’t the right mood.”

“Oh my god, I thought you didn’t have anything you wanted to listen to.”

“I have things I _don’t_ want to listen to.”

Hwanwoong throws his phone onto Dongju’s lap. Dongju begins to scroll through his music, quickly settling on the _La La Land_ soundtrack.

Hwanwoong hums along to the opening notes. “I didn’t know you cared about this movie.”

“I don’t,” Dongju lies. “I just wanted to fit your romantic mood.”

“I think this is a little too cheesy.”

Dongju whips around. “You’re a romantic amateur at best, so don’t go insulting me about it, because you know even less than I do!”

Hwanwoong just laughs. Before Dongju can protest further, he places a small hand on the younger’s thigh, rubs his thumb back and forth against the fabric of his jeans.

“I’m glad you exist,” the dancer says, sincerity of each word dripping so tangibly Dongju can almost feel it seep through his warm fingers.

They arrive at the beach an hour later after being stuck in traffic that Dongju doesn’t mind for the first time in his life. Plenty of people are still set up in the sand, but the crowd slowly begins to thin as the day comes to an end.

Hwanwoong buys them ice cream. (Discounted, because the lady selling it thinks they’re very handsome young men.)

“I’m going to get fat,” Dongju laments.

“You look fine. Dieting is stupid,” Hwanwoong says.

“My face is going to look round on camera again.”

Hwanwoong pokes Dongju’s cheek. “You’re gonna look great. You always do. Besides, if it bothers you, we still have a month before our actual comeback. You can go work out with Geonhak-hyung.”

Dongju huffs. “Geonhakie-hyung grunts too much when he works out. It makes me uncomfortable.”

Hwanwoong rolls his eyes at him. They reach the edge of the water, waves threatening to wet their socks again. Against Dongju’s sane judgment, Hwanwoong pulls off his shoes, saying that if he steps lightly enough, the slivers of seashells won’t hurt to walk on. Dongju knows that if he went barefoot now, he’d get his feet cut up by the sharp shells, but he supposes Hwanwoong would be able to walk lightly on command. Sometimes, watching him dance, he thinks he could even fly, if he tried.

The sky begins to orange. Dongju can’t remember the last time a sunset has been so beautiful. Hwanwoong considers his phone, eyebrows furrowed.

“Everything good?”

“Yeah.” He spares Dongju a quick glance and a fleeting smile. “I just thought I should text hyung, tell him we’re fine, just not coming home yet.”

“Just idiots.”

“Just idiots.” Hwanwoong gives him the smile again, longer this time. He types out a brief text, makes sure it sends, then puts his phone on airplane mode and stows it away in his pocket.

They settle down on dry sand a bit further up the beach. Dongju cringes thinking about the sand he’s going to find in his butt later, but Hwanwoong starts to rub his back and he loses his train of thought in the comforting touch.

The sun sets and the blueness of twilight settles all around them. Most of the beachgoers have left, so Dongju risks resting his head on Hwanwoong’s shoulder. Maybe he’s just imagining it, but Hwanwoong feels less tense than usual.

A pair of girls talking rapidly nearby catches Dongju’s attention. He looks over to see two teenagers gesturing vaguely towards them, before they realize that Dongju has noticed their conversation. They scurry away.

Dongju turns to Hwanwoong, who has his eyes closed. “Do you think they knew who we are?” he asks, mildly concerned.

“Nah,” Hwanwoong says. “I was listening to them earlier. They were just wondering whether we were celebrities or not, because we have dyed hair.” He jerks open his eyes, twists around, and grabs Dongju’s cheeks. “And because we’re _hot!”_

Dongju shoves Hwanwoong’s hand away, but he can’t help but laugh. “Don’t be stupid.”

As his laugh dissipates into the ocean air, he watches the water. Normally, he thinks the ocean is ominous when it gets dark, all black water cut by the ghostly lines of distant waves. But right now, the darkness feels peaceful, the waves a backdrop to the gritty sand between his fingers and the sound of Hwanwoong humming a song under his breath.

“I wonder what it would be like to be so famous that if we went to a place like this, people would notice us and _know_ us,” Hwanwoong remarks out of the blue. “Is that the metric of success? I feel like it would be nice. To reach that. To be known. But…” he trails off and looks out into the ocean, eyes sparkling with lights Dongju can’t even see.

“But it’s nice to be able to do this. To walk around freely,” Dongju finishes the thought.

“Is freedom something we give up, in return for all the acknowledgement and love?”

Dongju leans his face into Hwanwoong again, stretching an arm around his shoulders. “It’ll be worth it,” he murmurs into his skin.

Hwanwoong takes a deep breath. “I know.”

The last of the twilight melts away into night, the world now lit by the buildings lining the beach. The two of them sit still, Dongju breathing into Hwanwoong’s shoulder, Hwanwoong rubbing Dongju’s knee.

They’re yanked out of their reverie by Dongju’s phone vibrating. He groans as he pulls himself away from Hwanwoong and checks it. It’s their manager.

“It’s manager-hyung,” he tells Hwanwoong.

“What did he say?”

“_You think we don’t have a tracker on that car? Get your asses back home immediately, or I’ll come get you myself and you’re going to be in even more trouble.”_

Hwanwoong laughs under his breath, looking guilty. “Poor guy. He’s probably worried about us.”

Dongju crosses his arms. “No faith! We’re fine, does he think we’re gonna get ourselves killed?”

“Probably.” Hwanwoong blows his hair out of his eyes. “Do you want to ignore him and stay for the sunrise?”

“No, it’s okay.” Dongju gets up and brushes sand off his pants. “Sunrise is a long time away. And we have so many ahead of us.”

Hwanwoong gets up too. “Is that a promise for a second date?”

Dongju’s so suddenly thrown into perspective that he barely registers the flirting. “Was this really our first date?”

Hwanwoong looks contemplative. “I think so.”

“That’s crazy. I fell in love with you before we even went on a date.” The words tumble out of Dongju’s mouth before he can filter them.

“You’re in love with me?”

“No.”

“Wow,” Hwanwoong teases. “So easy.”

Dongju shoves Hwanwoong away. He pretends to stumble before trotting to the water’s edge, yelling that he wanted to dip his feet in before they left.

Dongju waits. Just as he expected, Hwanwoong comes running back just moments later, screaming that the water was too cold.

“Stupid.”

Hwanwoong grabs Dongju’s face, hands wet with saltwater. Dongju tries to pull away, but the dancer’s grip is tight.

“Ewww,” he gripes.

“Ew yourself.” Hwanwoong drops his wet hands down to hold Dongju’s instead.

Dongju lets himself be pulled a little closer. He doesn’t even check to see who’s watching.

“I love you,” Hwanwoong says, and pecks Dongju on the mouth. And maybe Dongju’s being stupidly sentimental, but he swears he can taste the salt of the ocean, feel it on his lips and in the breeze that sweeps his hair into his eyes.

He never knew he’d love salt so much.

**Author's Note:**

> happy belated bday woongman altho i only rememberred bc it was the same day as my dentist appointment i hope u never see this :) we're the same age 4 a month! ish
> 
> i dropped literally everything i've been working on after seeing this morning's vlive and wrote this bc. in the middle of it xion was talking about how they always share a room and this time he wanted to share with someone else, then woong threw a mini fit and was like "damn who else would u have roomed with." and xion was like i mean this time the hyungs were talking about changing it up and doing rock paper scissors (sidebar xion mispronounces rock it's cute). but before they could decide anything woong (speedy for once) was like "oh i'll just room with xion" and xion was like :0 :/ and so they ended up doing the live while rooming together again (apparently the single only time xiwoong didnt share a room was when onewe was there for some kcon thing and xion and dongmyeong roomed 2gether) bonus is that the rest of them still chose with rock paper scissors LMAO and it ended up seohee and ravn/leedo. honestly i'm tempted to pull up old subbing software and sub that clip its so cute but anyways.
> 
> anyways. i'm just saying i wrote a xiwoong fic and then immediately a live oneus ep was released where xiwoong is cutely bickering for like the entire time. and i wrote about them rooming together and sharing a bed in a hotel and what do they go do right after? (i mean apparently they have been this whole time but. they confirmed it.) so i'm just saying this means i don't /not/ have the power to write things into existence so have fun on ur road trip guys! <3


End file.
